Mid-Nineteenth Century Wars and Mil
itary Medicine by James F. Tent\, P.h.D

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Dr. Tent will examine the military medical systems tha
t were responsible for the care of soldiers in the Crimean War (1854-56)\,
the War of Italian Unification (1859-60)\, the American Civil War (1861-1
865)\, the brief Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1
870-71). The sixteen year span of time was not long\, but the evolution o
f military medicine in that brief time frame was by any standard revolutio
nary. However\, the picture was hardly one of uniform advancement and imp
rovement. There were many instances in which military care for combatants
went retrograde\, wars in which soldiers on the ground and their medical
establishments refused to accept advances that would otherwise have save m
any lives. Even so\, the medical infrastructures that confronted the war
s of the mid-nineteenth century had met a basic challenge. They continued
their steady advance in treating the soldiers who entered the hostile env
ironment.